29 June On to Winton

Woke at 7.30. On the road at 9 having done no pack up the day before, yes we are getting used to this wonderful life. Only a 2 hr drive, and all st up at he Matilda Caravan Park and having lunch at 12.30! We are chuffed with ourselves!

This is a small outback town, Opal mining and Dinosaurs, we will do a tour of the museum tomorrow. There are footprints in an area about 150k away but it's closed at the moment. Waltzing Matilda was first sung here and they had a wonderful museum here that was burnt down 18th June which is a tragedy for history as it held all the original things surrounding this song.

We have been to see Arno's Wall, photos will show some of it.  Cornfield & Fitzmaurice General Merchants is like a museum with wool industry display, Opal mining display, a model of a huge Dinosaur and a huge display of craft work made by local people, it was for sale.

We are at The Matilda Caravan Park, it is really, really good, trees around each site & super friendly. We have been to a 'Show' tonight put on by 2 ladies who have been doing this for 10 years. They live and travel in a bus. It has been the funniest, happiest, clean show. Songs, stories, poems and incorporating the campers in their dialogue. Brian, a Canadian had a good run, I got a Queensland version of the NZ Haka, stars, it was funny. We very highly recommend that anyone who gets the chance, go and see them - Mel & Susie on Tour.

On the way here this morning we say a couple of guys in a ute and their job was to hall the dead kangaroos off the road & onto the side , never had seen that before.

The last photo is where we should have stopped, but then we would have missed the Show. We are paying $30 per night here which isn't bad.

28 June Sunday in Longreach

Longreach Baptist Church starts at 9am, yes we made it and received a very warm welcome.. Really good attendance, full range of age groups, great singing and an excellent message by the Pastor. We left at the singing of the last song - 10.30! I was a bit surprised that there were no Aboriginal people there.

We went straight to the Stockman's Hall of Fame for the hour long 1 man 'Show', he was wonderful he worked with 3 different types of horses, 5 dogs, a small mob of sheep,a mule,  a huge bull, and his guitar, golly he could sing. His main quarter horse did everything except speak, he had it refusing to have a blanket put on, lay down on its back and put its feet in the air for him to clean them (because he had a sore back!). The horse lay down so he could sit in its hind quarters and sing to us. I guess you can see, we enjoyed it. The Museum it self would take a full day to read all the stories that were up for display. It was an eye opener as to hard early days were in this outback. I'm glad I was born at a later time.

We sat at the show with Bruce & Dianne Ford, they are going very well. We don't seem to stay at the same places but these catch ups are great.

We had a late lunch at the Qantas Founders Museum, Brian's was part of his package from yesterday and then he went through the Museum there. I went home and did the washing (Jan it took me 3 tries to even get a machine!!!) $4 per load and then I couldn't reach the clothesline..... a kind lady took pity on me & hung the towels, the rest I put on our little folding rack. That's anything I need to take when I go the the laundry .... A step ladder!

I won at Yahatz AGAIN.

Shopping in Pioneer days was not for me!.

The second pic in me stocking the BULL!

27 June - Longreach

11am the Auto Electrician arrived to attend to our 12 volt problem. Ben with his 2 little kids ( he said if he has to work at weekends they come with him because when his 15yr old was little he was working 7 days a week and wasn't letting that happen again) Good on him. Ben checked this and that and found that a fuse had blown in the car. No charge for the call out, just pay Dad at the BP Gas Station $15 for the fuse. How lucky were we?

Today was Brian's big day - the Qantas Museum. He had an early lunch & walked there for 12.30. It ended up with a 'personal' tour, he was the only booking and has thoroughly enjoyed all. Time ran out so he still has a pass for the Museum plus a lunch, he will redeem these Sunday.

We had a very nice late afternoon with the couple who pulled in behind us, they are on the road for as long as they like, they have built a drive through garage that will take their van and car beside their home near Tweed Heads and have let their house and go back whenever they want to catch up on family. They have 5 acres of land! They would as if they stop and help in areas that need it, a bit like 'Blaze Aid'. The man is a real handy man.

It was a beautiful day, I even had to move into shade 'of the car' because I getting sunburnt while reading outside!

The photos tell his story, where it looks as if he is standing in front of the plane, he is actually standing on the wing!

Yesterday when I was driving around town, there was a kangaroo hopping along the footpath and they show up here in our park. Yes, we are in the Australian Outback.

26 June - Longreach

Brian walked to the Qantas Museum & booked a 3hr tour of everything there, the highlight of his trip i expect. I drove to town, a nice size & big variety. Needed to get a fly swat! Oh, also bread and got some silver stars ready for Christmas card making when I get home!

The streets are very wide and the telephone poles are all down the middle of the road with one in the middle of every intersection. 

In the afternoon we did a tour around the town, in our car, it's very compact, definitely not a garden city, it's barren and dry, a few people have lawns but not many.

Last night Brian cooked the Cosco hamburgers with onions, yummiest. Tonight will be Nathalia Scotch steaks, oh dear, it's a hard life.

The fridge is not working on 12 volts when we travel so we have an mantinance man coming this afternoon or tomorrow morning. We will need it later as it gets hotter on the road.

There are some amazing vans in this park, some are bigger than our place in the Retirement Village and others like our original one in Australia.

Photos of the park show the lack of grass and a Roadtrain.

25 June 515k today. Now in Longreach

Last evening after I posted yesterday's report,we had such a beautiful sky, photos attached. However it was the oncoming storm, lightening,thunder and real rain. We couldn't hear each other or the TV. It didn't last long but everything was so wet this morning, everything that was on the ground needed washing, the steps, the clothes basket that was under the van was a real mess. 

We set out at 8.45 and arrived at Blackall where we're going to stay at noon, and as it was only small we decided to go on to Longreach.the photo will show what the road was like, so very easy.

We are on sight 248 at Longreach Tourists Park, it's huge. Large sights, all gravel, no grass, the Amenities block is first class & we will stay 4 nights. Brian's number one aim of the trip is to go to the Qantas Museum a he will try to book first thing in the morning, they only take 5 people each day at 8am. It wasn't until midday that the sky turned blue and temperature 21degrees it was beautiful.

We/I have been so lucky so far .... TV working & Channel 7 with the football has been on.. Happy husband, happy wife!

Added to the road kill now are black pigs, not many but hundreds of kangaroos today. A number of roadtrains that is a big prime mover with 4 trailers, they are so huge. They wouldn't even know they had hit anything.

24 June a quiet day

We went for a drive today just around the area, not far & looked in at a 'Bush Camp' just to see what they look like. This one was a proper park not a Free Camping sight. We said we just wanted to look around and noted they were living in a Trackmaster Van...... Do you know Jan & Roger Richards, Oh yes we do ,they are great fun. Another nice encounter for us. Driving near the railway station we saw a big portable container brightly painted 'fresh fruit & vegetables ' we thought we were in Texes, the Manderines were soo big & the pears just delightful.

After a late lunch Brian went for his customary walk and I did some housework (first time the floor has been washed this trip) wasn't too bad, I was surprised.

We leave here tomorrow morning & plan to Free Camp just out of Blackall for the night. Another first for us. Watch this spot!

I can't always get wifi so can't post every day, just have to see how we go.

Greetings to all , we are loving all this and still love each other after 1 week!

23 A day in Charleville back to WW2

The alarm was needed, yuck. 

We were to be at the Information center at 8.15 to do a tour of the Royal Flying Doctor Service. We were there , even early and then got a phone call to say it was cancelled due to the aircraft needing major service & no visitors were allowed in the hanger!

We then took ourselves on a CD guided tour of the town which was well worth the $5 CD.

Back to the information center for a self drive guided tour of the remains of the Americian Base that was here for the Coral Sea battle. There were about 10 cars & the guide was really first class. There were 3,500 Americans & 400 Australians & all had to take an oath of silence about their work. It was The Bombardiers Oath & u they were protecting a huge bombsight. It was very, very interesting. 

A surprise was to walk into the center and see Bruce & Diane Ford. Their vehicle was not suitable so they traved with the guide. 

Weather is only proving, sorry freezing Melbourne people. 

22 June

On to Charleville, only 200k but watching got the Emus & Kangaroo keep us on our toes. Interesting particularly due to the number of floods. We have been to 'The Graeme Andrews' park that has the contraption that they tried to make rain with in the early 1900's, it didn't work! Then the rains came. 

We are booked for a morning tour tomorrow 8.15 - HELP toooo early, but sounds most interesting   

Summer , sanders, T-shirts have arrived, yippee. 

The trip north that is planned

Melbourne to Karumba, then to Atherton, Cairns and meander back 

21 June A day in the Outback

Nice weather, packed lunch(as is our custom) and took off for the Eulo an Opal mining area 66k away, also there was an opportunity to have a Mud bath! We didn't take the $70 opportunity! Should have done so because you got a bottle of wine as well while you soaked in mud.

Pictures attached shows the 'Beautiful ' area we had our lunch in. The river floods when it rains further up north and then the SES have to ferry food over what sometimes is 7k. Out further it has to be flowing in. The opals were not as pretty as Coober Pedy & it has been very well mined .

Lovely to sit outside in the sun & read in the afternoon.

I won at Yahtzee before a gripping movie on TV which made us the latest to bed yet.

During the drive we had to stop 3 times for Emus crossing. We are ever on the watch for them and kangaroos..... They have NO road sense!

A very nice day in the Outbreak.

21 June "Special Edition "

Brian has just gone outside and on his return he has changed into 'SHORTS' ..... We have arrived in the north.

20 June A day of rest in Cunnamulla

A late breakfast then watched the mass exodus of caravans. 10 past 10 the park was just about empty - photo later. Brian went for a 2.45 hour walk and I went to town!!?? Well it is all the town 1500 people need (I guess). Cauliflower was $8! at the little IGA 

The biggest shop has a big selection of toys, a good shoe section, a smattering of bits and pieces. The Bargin shop ...... Nothing like one would expect, mostly cleaning products but very friendly staff who just wanted to talk.

Weather was sunny but cold wind so only sat outside for a short time.

At 2pm we decided to go to the Information centre and Artesian Time Tunnel which also holds a museum of the early days. $13 entry .. But we arrived to be told ' you can have a quick peek as we close at 2pm and all the electronic displays are turned off' We did for about 15 min with the boss telling us about so much of the history  .... For free! Tinny aren't we?

BBQ for tea and now Football .... Again but tonight is not so hard on my ears. Yes I survived last nights loss but Brian took quite a while to unwind. I'm so glad the players can't hear him!

We want to go to the Opal area but must check the condition of the local rivers before we go, a lot are in flood.

The second photo shows what a change has happened to our park by 4pm, we have always heard about the Gray Nomads but to see it is something else. We retirees are so fortunate.

19 June Cunnamulla on the Matilda Highway

417k today. Cunnamulla is a small outback town, very nice to drive around. Good caravan park, 3 nights for $75, so we are having a rest. Richmond is playing in Melbourne & it's on TV ..... I NEED EAR MUFFS!

We have been to see the Allan Tannock Weir and it is expected to flow over in the next couple of days. There has been so much rain up this end of the country.

Today's drive was flat land, the road disappears over the horizon, we didn't even attempt to count the 'road kill' must have been hundreds of kangaroo carcasses on the road side. The huge trucks come through at night and they wouldn't even feel the bump as they hit them. We wouldn't dare drive after dusk as it's too dangerous. 

Not many goats today, emus, echidna and the odd fox, some sheep and many kilometres of scrub.

John Spargo, these pictures are for you of the Weir.

I'll let you know tomorrow if I survive this Richmond game!

By the way, we had some lovely sunshine today & looking forward to more.

18June The road to 'Back of Bourke'

We travelled 525k today, Good roads, Kangaroos, Emus, thousands of wild Goats (4 legged ones). Foxes, Birds, Orange groves, Grape vineyards, paddocks (fields) that are soooo huge of what will be wheat, and 'Gray Nomads' in all sorts of caravans. So far there have been a lot of trucks on The Kidman Way, some Double B but no triple B's yet. We had rain until Cobar, an then sun. We are staying the night at Kidmans Camp, 8 k North of Bourke. It's full of people just like us some going north & others going south, most are one night stops,  drive through sites.

It's been a great day, we have a talking book to listen to in the car ' Kokoda' and are finding it most interesting. 

There's been a lot of rain which is MOST unusual, even lying on the roadside but it was nice as we set up and didn't rain again until after dark.

The land is very flat and the roads long and straight, can't see the horizon, a lot of scrub as the further north in inland that we travel.

Good night, another day to look forward to tomorrow.

17 June On the way at last

It's hard to believe that this trip has come about, we started planning this 2 years ago and now it's happening.

We drove out at 9am on the dot! Cloudy through Victoria and rain in NSW. Water lying on the road side and in the paddocks. We are snug and warm in our 'home' for the next 10 weeks.

We are in Oranges and Grapes territory Griffith NSW, there are Manderines on the trees at the moment.

16June Hiccups over

Took the Caravan to Brian Gilbee @ CCRV 0413510941 Croydon and he fixed the electricity plug , even while we waited. He has been so helpful and obliging doing anything we wanted done.

We've been invited out to dinner tonight at Beryl Phillips, how lucky are we. 

Only 1 more sleep. Yippee.

15June A hiccup

We went to plug the electricity into the caravan this afternoon to cool the fridge but there is no electricity going into the van. Now we have to take it to the Serviceman tomorrow in the high hope he can locate the problem & fix it immediately. Brian has tested and tried all the things he can think of.

Well not everything can go perfectly.

No.2 more preparations

Our caravan, a Franklin Arrow is 17 feet long with ensuite, and now 6 months old. Any modifications have been attended to and we have tested it over 3 trips so far. 

As we both have prior commitments this weekend we have had to be on the ball to load our supplies.

It's nearly done!

The weather is pretty cold here so we are looking forward to a warmer climate up north.

Goodnight for today.

Preparations

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